price



(No Model.) 3- sheets Sheet 1.

- A. PRICE. DITCHING MACHINE. No. 366,185; Patent-ed July 5, 1887;

N. PETERS. Phuio-Lilhagnpher, wmm nm o. c.

(Nd-Model.) '3 Sheets-Shet 2.

A. PRICE.

DITUHING MAGHINE.

No; 366,185 Patented July 5, 1887.

un -1mimiili iziumm' i I V V i V V w I (No Model.) 4 r 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

v A. PRICE.

DITGHING MAGHINB, N0. 366,185. PatentedJuly 5, 1887.

' UNITED STATES PATENT @FFlCE.

ABRAHAM PRICE, OF INDIANOLA, IOlVA, ASSIGNOR OF ONEI-IALF TO EDWVARD HALL, OF SAME PLACE.

DITCHING-IVIACHINE.

s ecifier-trier? forming part of Letters Patent No. 366,185, dated July 5,1887.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM PRICE, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of lndianola, in the county of Varren and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Ditching-Machine, of which the following is a specification.

My object is to provide a machine specially adapted for making open ditches and refilling to them, and also adapted for excavating, loading loose ground into wagons or cars, and gradmg roads, and to save time, labor, and expense in loosening and moving soil.

My invention consists in the construction I and combination of a tractable carriage, a vertically-adjustable plow, and a flexible and adjustable plow-carrying frame, mechanism for raising and lowering the plow and regulating the draft applied thereto, an endless carrier and elevator, a rotary sod or elod cutter, and a carrier and dump, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top View; Fig. 2, a side view showing the traction-wheels removed from their axles. Fig. 3 is a rear end view of my complete machine. Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of a part of the carriage-frame andthe plow-elevating mechanism, and Fig. 5 of the draft-regulating device.

A A are the side pieces of a rigid frame fixed to the axles of a carriage at its ends, to serve as a reach, and also as a support for my operative mechanisms.

B represents a flexible and adjustable plowearrying frame suspended below the front end of the carriage and side pieces, A, in such a manner that it will be retained perpendicularand free to be raised and lowered at pleasure. Joints in the frame allow Vertical motion and adjustment of its rear portion relative to the front portion, and also lateral flexure. The joints are constructed as shown in Fig. 2, or in any suitable way.

4 5 B are straight racks fixed to the rear ends of the frame B.

B isa metal plate fixed on the top and central portions of the side pieces, A.

O are gear-wheels fixed to a shaft, C that 0 has its bearings formed on or fixed to the plate B in such a manner that the wheels 0 will engage the racks B, that extend through slots in said plate, as required to raise and lower the frame Bwhen the shaft 0* is rotated by means of ahand-wheel on its end. Batchets 5 5 and pawls are employed to retain said parts in adjusted position. A second pair of slots in the plate B and a second pair of wheels,

C allow the racks B to be shifted from the outside slots to the inner slots, so they can be connected with a narrower plow.

D represents a plow formed on or fixed to the under side of a detachable section of the frame B, to be carried by means of the frame. llows for surface work and for deep ditches 6 can be interchangeably used in the machine.

F represents an endless carrier, that extends rearward and upward from the plow to elevate the ground loosened by the plow. The front and lower end of this carrier is supported upon a sprocket wheel journaled in bearers F, formed on or fixed to the plow carrying frame B.

F is a winch connected with the frame of the carrier F, for raising and lowering the car- 73 rier.

A is a frame that rises from the rear end of the frame A and auxiliary side pieces, A, to support the rear and upper end of the carrier F and other operative devices.

G represents a sod-cutter mounted in the top of the frame A to rotate vertically and at right angles to the motion of the carrier F, for the purpose of cutting the furrow-slice, sod, and clods as they slip off the top of the 8 carrier and elevator F.

H represents an endless traveling platform and dump, upon which the dirt falls as it is subjected to the action of the rotating cutter, and upon which the dirt is carried laterally to 0 be dropped into a wagon or car that is advanced at the side of the machine or upon the surface of the ground. Drive-wheels No. 1 are fixed to the rear wheels of the carriage.

No. 2are gear-wheels fixed to the shafts J, 9 5 that have their bearings fixed to the under side and rear end and opposite sides of the frame A A.

J is a shaft in parallel position with the shaft J, and detachably connected therewith I00 by means of gear-wheels and a clutch device,

J, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

rotating sodcutter G by means of chains and chain-wheels, and also with the traveling platform and dump H by means of a chain-wheel, K as shown in Fig. 3, in such a manner that power and motion will be transmitted therefrom as the machine is-advanced, and as required to simultaneously operate the rotating cutter G and the endless platform and dump H.

L is a pole hinged to the front and arched carriage-axle, to which the pole-horses are attached in a common way by means of a doubletree, as required, to advance the can riage.

m is a wire rope fixed to the front end of [he plow-carrying frame B, passed over a pulley, m, in the pole L, and then connected with a Winch, N, mounted upon the front end of the carriage-frame in sucha manner that the rope can be readily lengthened and shortened as the frame B is lowered or raised, and as required to regulate and transmit draft-force fromthe pole and horses to the plow at any depth in the ground.

1? is a rack that moves up and down between the frame N of the winch to carry the front end of'the jointed frame B, to which the lower end of the rack is pivoted.

B is a shaft in bearings formed in or fixed to the winch-frame N S is a gear-wheel fixed to the shaft B, to engage the-rack P and operate it, as the shaft is rotated, by means of a wrench or hand-wheel attached to its end.

To make an open ditch, I advance the machine successively over the same track, as required to cut loose and lift ground from the same vertical plane in succession. Each time after passing the plow through the ditch I lower the frame B and the plow carried thereby, so that at each passage it will loosen and elevate the ground from a lower horizontal plane, as. required to deepen the ditch.

The frame B extends forward under the arched axle of the front carriage, so that when the racks B and P are lowered the plow W111 descend perpendicularly, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, and as required to deepen the ditch at each passage through the ditch.

I claim as my invention-.

1. In a ditching-machine, a jointed frame, B,,having movable racks B and P, a plow, D, and the shaft 0 having wheels 0, and the shaft R and wheel S, in combination with the carriage-frame A,to operate in the manner set forth, for the purposes stated.

2. The combination of the frame A, fixed to the axles of a tractable carriage, the verticallyadj ustable and jointed frame B, carrying a plow, D, and a sprocket-wheel journaled 1n bearers F, the endless carrier and elevator F, and mechanism for operating the said carrier and elevator as the carriage and plow are advanced, for the purposes stated.

3. The combination of' the frame A, the frame A the j ointed and vertically-ad j ustable frame B, carrying a plow, the carrier and elevator F, the rotating cutter G, and the traveling platform and dump H, substantially as shown and described, to operate in the manner set forth, for the purposes stated.

4. The jointed frame B, carrying a plow, the racks B, fixed to the rear of said jointed frame, the rack P, pivoted to the front of the same frame, and mechanism for raising and lowering said racks, arranged and combined with the carriage of a ditching-machine, to operate in the manner set forth, for the purposes stated.

5. The machine composed of a tractable four-wheeled carriage, a frame, B, carrying a fixed plow at its lower end, and mechanism for raising and lowering the said frame and plow, an endless carrier and elevator, F, a rotating sod-cutter, G, a platform and dump, H, and mechanisms for simultaneously and automatically operating the said carrier and elevator, the sod-cutter, and the platform and dump as the complete machine is advanced, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

A BRAHAM PRICE.

Witnesses:

Trros. W. GRAHAM, H. OooL. 

